


Solidarity

by Azureli



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 22:29:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15253455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azureli/pseuds/Azureli
Summary: Caleb deals with the past while Nott tries to make it through the present.





	Solidarity

The heat began to bear down on him, smothering all three of them as they stood in the street watching silently. No words were needed, they had carried out their duties with pride and without remorse.  
But soon the screams began.  
Oh, the screams.  
They held their ground even as the pounding on the door began before them, a desperate soul trying to force it's way out.  
The soul of a traitor.  
He repeated the word in his head as the reflection of the flames flickered in his eyes.  
Traitors.  
Traitors.  
His hands began to shake, his bottom lip soon following suit as he struggled to maintain his line of thought.  
Why wouldn't they stop screaming.  
Couldn't they just lay down and die with the dignity they forsook by betraying the empire?  
He fell to his knees, the ashes and embers starting to float freely down the street, panicked, raised voices rushing toward the blaze. Toward the screaming.  
Why would it not stop.  
The flames burned even brighter, even more intensely. Pieces of the roof began to cave and crumble inwards but still the screaming did not stop.  
He raised his shaking hands to his ears and covered them, raking his nails into the sides of his head.  
Even then, the screaming would not stop.  
He cried out, scratching and clawing at his own flesh before the flaming wreckage.  
He could still hear them, the screams of those traitors.  
A figure stepped between him and the flames, the bright orange glow still radiating from behind them.  
He stared through them, fixated on the flames.  
Fixated on those traitors.  
This was the only choice.  
They were going to betray them all.  
"Caleb."  
But why have the screams not gone away.  
"Caleb."  
He screwed his eyes shut and curled on the floor into a ball, crying out in anguish.  
Somebody make it stop.  
Anybody.

"Caleb?"

Caleb jolted upright at the source of the voice, the small goblin stood between his chair and the fireplace. Nott, standing only a few inches in front of him, jumped a little bit at his sudden movement herself.  
Caleb sighed and rubbed his eyes with one hand.  
"I'm sorry, Nott, have you been trying to get my attention for long?"  
Nott's knitted her eyebrows together and cocked her head toward her human companion.  
"No, Caleb, only for a couple of seconds." She glanced toward the ground sheepishly.  
"Are you... feeling alright today?"

She mumbled the words from the corner of her mouth, trying to keep as quiet as possible so as not to arouse the suspicion of the rest of their travelling band of misfits. Caleb shot a nonchalant glance over to the table where the others were gathered, Molly and Yasha were deep in conversation about something or other while Jester was trying to poke the eyes of his tattoos with a butter knife, Fjord and Beau trying their best to keep her from her prey.

He looked back to Nott. Concern and apprehension were still plastered all over her tiny face. Caleb met her gaze with his own stoic expression. He swallowed hard and gave his usual answer to the question.  
"I am fine, Nott, but thank you for asking."  
He began to turn back to his original seated position, the flickering flames reflecting in his eyes as Nott placed a bandaged hand onto his knee.  
"Caleb. You don't always have to be fine, you know that right?"  
His eyes widened, looking back to the goblin girl before him, she quickly pulled her hand from his knee, blushing .  
For a few moments they shared the uneasy silence until Nott was the first to break her eye contact, clearly uncomfortable from the turn of events.  
"If you need anything you know I'm always here for you." She quickly spat out the words, tripping through most of them, her face beginning to turn a deeper crimson as she scuttled back to the other table, Beau turning to meet her.

Caleb sat perfectly still, willing the blush on his own cheeks to disappear as quickly as humanly possible to avoid any undue suspicious glances from the rest of the Nein. He quickly pulled his head the other way and took a large swig from his drink before burying his head back into Tusk Love in an attempt to make himself look busy. He couldn't help but quickly scan the pages as he hid.  
"Well, there's no wonder why Jester was so into this..."  
A small smile cracked at the corner of his mouth as he set the book down. Frumpkin jumped up onto Caleb's thigh, letting out a purr as he arrived. Caleb scratched under his familiar's chin and it quickly rolled over into a contented heap in his lap, as Caleb returned to the ruined sanctuary of his own thoughts.

Beau continued to stare at Caleb from across the room, her head resting on her arm as she slouched toward the table.  
She lazily glanced towards Nott as she approached, the goblin looking more than a little flustered even beneath her mask.  
"Hey, manage to make any headway?" She stretched her arms and pushed away from the table before letting out a loud yawn.  
"I hate bein' this beat, god, even drinking is hardly any fun."  
Nott perched on the wooden bench next to Beau, absentmindedly swinging her legs off the side.  
For a few seconds she stayed quiet, seemingly lost in thought. Beau gave her a nudge on the back.  
"Come on, did things really go that badly?" Beau sneered, trying to illicit some response from the rogue.  
Nott lifted her head just enough for Beau to see under her hood, her eyes welling up with tears. The sight of it made even Beau's heart stop for just a second.  
She put one arm around Nott and pulled her in close.  
"Just keep being patient, you're doing great alright?" Beau spoke softly, resting her head on top of Nott's hood.  
"There's no way you can rush things, you have to keep goin' at Caleb's pace."

Nott sniffed loudly and patted at her eyes with the hem of her cloak.  
"I know, thank you Beau but it's just so... frustrating. I want to get back at that wizard guy Trent for all he's done to him, but what can we do? He's untouchable!" Nott bared her teeth and almost spat the last few words of the sentence in a rage. Molly looked over quizzically at the commotion, one eyebrow raised.  
"What, are you trying to speak infernal over there or something?"  
Nott sat bolt upright, staring straight ahead away from the group to hide her teary face. Beau rolled her eyes at the tiefling's interuption.  
"None of your fuckin' business, Molly, we'll ask for your input when we need it. Which is probably, uh, never."  
"Real sharp, real witty."  
Beau put on her best resting bitch face as Molly turned back to Yasha, the butter knife hidden up Jester's sleeve making it's appearance once again as Fjord swore under his breath and tried to wrestle it back from the far stronger cleric.  
Beau turned back to the goblin girl before her.  
"We'll get revenge for Caleb, all of us here'll help you. We'll teach that bastard what it means to fuck with the Nien."  
She ruffled Nott's hood and pulled her in for a short hug wrapping her arm around the girl, Nott patted her arm in appreciation.  
"It means a lot to have someone to share this with Beau. We can't let him down." Nott exclaimed with a newfound vigour, sniffing loudly. Beau felt a small cold splatter of goblin nasal fluid landing on her arm and grimaced, trying her best to not ruin the moment.  
"Yep. Good talk buddy."

**Author's Note:**

> A short adventure through some Caleb and Nott headcanons even if it's now many episodes late  
> Better late than never


End file.
